Olalekan Olabulo
There were pockets of violence in some parts of Lagos State on Saturday as hoodlums went on rampage in some parts of the state, including Oshodi, Badagry ,Ikate , FESTAC Ijegun ,Maryland, Surulere , Aguda, Ketu and many others .
A pregnant woman was attacked in Aguda, Surulere and many other people were injured in other parts of the state as hoodlums disrupted the poll.
The election was also marred by protests from voters, especially the non-indigenes, who felt disenfranchised by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
No fewer than 25 officials of INEC were rescued by the Lagos State Commissioner of Police, Idowu Owohunwa, , who swiftly invaded Mafoluku area of Oshodi, after masked armed hoodlums invaded the area and burnt ballot boxes and ballot papers.
The police boss, while speaking with newsmen confirmed the pockets of violence, but insisted that the police in the state had done very well by responding to all the situations.
Trouble was first reported in Okota, when voters, as early as 10:30am protested against INEC for not issuing them Permanent Voter’s’ Card and for arriving late with the electoral materials.
Prior to the protest, residents of Ago Okota had on Friday evening discovered about one thousand PVCs were abandoned in front of a popular hotel in the area.
While speaking with the Sunday Tribune at the Ofokaire Polling Unit, a resident of Ago Palace Way, Collins Anyanwu, asked residents of the area to hold INEC responsible for their inability to vote.
He said: “I have been to INEC office on many occasions and I could not get my PVCs. We got a report rwport yesterday that some PVCs were dumped in front of Nobos Hotel. What they told us was that the uncollected PVCs were stored in a vault in INEC. How did the PVCs go there?”
In Oshodi , Lagos CP, Owohunwa, had to physically visit Mafoluku area to rescue about twenty five INEC officials, who were held hostage by gunmen, who invaded the area.
The affected areas in Oshodi were Afariogun Primary School, Adedeji Street, Owpseni, Branco , Adedeji , Obisanya and Owolabi Streets in the state.
It was gathered that voting was going on in the affected polling units when hoodlums arrived on a motorcycle and started shooting.
A resident, who pleaded anonymity, while speaking with Sunday Tribune, said that: “Some of the hoodlums rode on three motorcycles, while others walked behind them.”
“They snatched the ballot papers and burned them with the boxes and vandalized the boxes in other units. Now voting has ended. It was even the commissioner of police that rescued the INEC workers.”
A resident of Ajao Estate, who simply identified herself as Chioma, described the process as “appalling’; saying that she was not allowed to vote for the candidate of her choice, despite trekking a long distance to the polling booth .
Chioma said that “It was yet to get to my turn at Branco Street, when some hoodlums came and started shooting. Now, they have injured me and I could not exercise my right to vote.”
Ikate Elegushi was not different as armed hoodlums, who felt not satisfied with the pattern of voting in the area attacked voters and destroyed some of the ballot papers
An unidentified pregnant woman had to be rushed to the hospital after the hoodlums invaded her polling unit at Dipo Olubi Street in Surulere area of the state.
We responded well —Lagos CP
While speaking with newsmen at the command headquarters, the state CP said: “Along Epe axis, we saw a very peaceful organised voting process .We visited like about five polling units in Epe and there was this family way of approaching the process and I interacted with them. They were a peaceful family so regardless of the political divide, they remain one family so they will all work towards ensuring that they maintain peace.”
He continued that: “What we are dealing with here got to do with human conduct. It could be unpredictable or driven by passion, emotion or even criminal intent. We recorded specific instances of robbery and violence, and these things will always happen and when they do we will emplace a response plan and we were able to respond to most of those incidences. We have made arrests and recoveries.
“The Nigeria police, military, DSS and all others have been working as a team since morning that we have been having those isolated challenges. The police didn’t do it alone, even the citizens will sometimes trigger our actions to come to their rescue. In the midst of this, do not let us expose the security agents that are diligent to derogatory things, it wouldn’t be fair. ”
The Lagos police boss noted that: “So if you have instances of violence, it will be unfair to transfer that to the officers of the law that are trained and paid to even prevent it, so I think we should change that narrative and isolate instances of crimes and as law enforcement agencies and well meaning citizens define what it is. Thuggery, violence or anything that violate the electoral act or the criminal status of this country, we should jointly condemn it not to change the narrative and put the blame on police.”
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